Secrets of Former Jounin
by SuperNinja678
Summary: 'Who the hell is this, Naruto? Why didn't you tell us? Why are you keeping secrets! ... You trust us, right'
1. Prolog: Fox and Sun

_**Disclaimer-I don't own anything from Naruto or any other anime I pull stuff from.**_

**Prolog**

_I was running through the forest. It was dork out, 'Way past our bedtime I thought sarcastically'. Anyway, we were running from __**him, **that asshole-traiter-sensei__. He had already gotten to Chikoto, and now he was coming after us. So I kept running. Next to me was my best friend. We'd been through a lot even before we were put on this team. _

_But now's not the time for this. I'll have time to reminisce on the past later. Hopefully. No, I shouldn't think like that. I'll defiantly have time to think later._

_Running next to me, I saw Sunshine stumble a little. My friend, I mean. That's not her real name, but it's what I call her. I don't blame her; it's been a long day. I'm almost out of energy myself, which is like, impossible. I never run out of energy, but I guess there's an exception to everything._

_Like Sensei. How he suddenly turned on us. Chikoto was fighting him. I don't think he's alive anymore though… I mean, Chikoto is strong, but he's only a chuunin. Sensei is a jounin. Plus Sensei has his sword._

_Damn sword. We wouldn't be in situation if we didn't make it. Me and Sunshine, I mean. She's not as good as me, but she's good enough to help. As long as I can remember I've been good at crafting stuff. _

_Once again though, now's not the time for this though, I hear footsteps. Either Sensei or Chikoto is catching up. _

_I glance over at Sunshine. She's running, but slowing down. She won't be able to last much longer. I take a deep breath and then slow to a stop._

_She slows to a stop beside me. "Th-thanks," she manages to say. She leans over onto my shoulder for support. I don't blame her, I mean I want to collapse here and now, but I can't I have to stay awake a little bit longer. I have to confront Sensei if he's still alive._

_We stopped next to the Shinobi Memorial. We're only a few feet away. I take this time to try and catch my breath; I'll need it, if I'm going to fight Sensei…_

_I hear a noise to my right. Both of us snap our heads up toward the noise; we're tired yes, but we're still fully-trained shinobi. Jounin too, just like Sensei. _

_We hold our breath, waiting to see who it is. I see a figure; it's up in a tree staring at us. _

"_C-come ou-out!" I manage to get out. Damn, I'm really out of breath._

_I see the figure smile, an evil little smile that promises pain. Lots of it. My breath catches, and I feel my eyes start to water. The figure jumps out of the shadow of the trees and on to the ground in front of us, landing in a crouch._

_He slowly stood up, with that evil little smile plastered to his face, and unsheathed his sword. _

_It was our Sensei, and he was trying to kill us._

"_Wha-what did you d-do to Chi-chikoto," I manage through the tears that threaten to start._

"_Chikoto? I killed the little demon lover." Sensei states coolly, still with that smile. _

_Beside me, Sunshine tightens her grip on my arm. I glance over and see that she is crying silently._

_I look back at Sensei. This is the man that we look up to. He protected us. Made sure we were safe. He was our father figure of sorts. He didn't just protect us on missions, no he would stop by the house and made sure we ate the right kinds of foods. He would make sure we never slacked in our training. He comforted Sunshine when her mother passed away giving birth to her little sister. He would comfort me after my birthday when the glares, name-calling, and occasional chases were the worst._

_At that moment, when I looked into Sensei's eyes, something in me snapped. I felt a warm, bubbling feeling spread through me. It started deep in my chakra coils. It felt foreign, but powerful. It was searing hot, but didn't burn. I've never used it before, but immediately I knew whose chakra it was. _

_Kyuubi. It didn't make sense. We had tried to get him to share his chakra with me before, but he had said something along the lines of, __**"Fuck off, why would I give you any of my chakra damn kit?"**_

_I made a mental note to ask him later. Right now, I had a traitor to kill._

_Kyuubi's chakra spread through my body, leaving a burning sensation all through my chakra coils. It burned, but it felt so __**good. **__I saw something in Sensei's eyes; it took me a minute to identify it. Fear._

_I was told later by Sunshine that I truly looked terrifying. She said my eyes turned a deep red color, reminding her of blood. The birthmarks on my face, the fox-like whiskers, became more pronounced. They truly looked like the whiskers of a demon. My hair, naturally spiky and wild, became even more wild and unruly. My fingernail's extended slightly to give the appearance of claws. I couldn't wait to test them on Sensei. I felt my canines elongate and become sharper._

_All in all, Sunshine said I looked __**feral.**_

"_So the demon finally appears," Sensei said, the fear that was there before had been replaced with hatred. 'He got over that quickly' I thought._

_In response I just growled a low, deep growl that came from deep inside me. I felt Sunshine shiver and slowly step toward the Memorial. 'Sorry Sunshine' I thought. I'm probably terrifying her. But I'll deal with that later. I turn my attention back to Sensei._

_We lock eyes. It's completely silent. Nobody moved. Nobody noticed until now, but while all this was happening, storm clouds where forming, threatening to break. When the first drop of water fell on top of the Memorial; that was like the start signal. We both lunged forward, Sensei unsheathing his sword, and me raising my clawed hands._

_We met in the middle of the field, Sensei swung his sword at my head, but I ducked under him and swiped at his legs._

_He jumped up and flipped over me, landing and twirling around, swinging his sword. I tried to dodge, but I was too slow. It hit my right arm; there was a long gash across my right shoulder. Sensei smirked, thinking he got me, but I jumped back right as he swung for a finishing hit. I tried to move my arm to see if it could be any use. To my surprise, I could move it perfectly. I was only wearing a dark red t-shirt, so it was simple enough to see that under the blood that was there, there was no wound. _

_I think it surprised Sensei too because he had frozen with a funny expression on his face, like disbelief. Off to the side Sunshine was in the same condition. The cut was deep enough that I shouldn't be able to use my arm, but there wasn't even a scratch that I could see. Of course there was the blood there so I could be missing something but I pushed my shock aside and turned back toward Sensei._

_Only to find he had snapped out of his confusion first and was running at me fast. He swung his sword at me but I dodged. I jumped up and decked him right in the middle of his face. I was slightly surprised when he flew halfway across the field. He landed on his back, and I swiped at his face. But he blocked with his sword._

_Too bad I had forgotten a little bit of information that I probably should have remembered. I mean I created the sword, how could I forget that it could shoot fire?_

_Right when I remembered that particular piece of information, it was too late. I was already being blown away by a giant fire ball._

_I was burned, badly. But like before, the wounds were rapidly healing, it helped that it was practically pouring rain by now. I guessed it had something to do with Kyuubi. My shirt was burned off, and my black shinobi pants had seen better days. Sensei was standing up by now, and his eyes trailed to my stomach. They were filled with hatred._

_I winced, 'Does Sensei really hate me?'_

"_Ah, there it is. The seal that keeps you bound to your human form." Sensei says, his voice laced with hatred._

_I take a quick glance at my stomach; I wince again, for there it is. The seal. On my stomach was a black swirl with symbols surrounding. Now, by no means am I a seal master, but even a civilian could recognize that it's a storage seal._

_Sensei quickly closed the distance between us and placed his sword on my right shoulder, the sharp part of the sword facing my neck. _

_He was going to kill me. In that moment I knew it. Sensei really was going to kill me. 'Then he would go for Sunshine, because of me.' I thought._

_He drew the sword back. I looked over toward Sunshine. She was frozen. She probably just realized the same thing I just did. That Sensei was serious. He was going to kill us._

_Sensei swung his sword. _

_I felt something collide with me, and something warm splash my face. I hadn't realized that I closed my eyes until I had to open them._

"_S-Su-Sunshine," I stuttered._

_She had pushed me out of the way. She had gotten hit with the sword. She had saved me. And it had cost her her left arm. Where her arm used to be, was a bleeding stump. _

"_Baka Fox," she said, "Your just gonna let him kill us?" she attempted to smile, but it was more like a grimace of pain. Then she fell over. I couldn't tell if she was just unconscious or dead. _

_My eyes widened. _

"_HA! Look at that! She was a demon lover 'till the end, just like Chikoto! Now it's your turn demon!"_

_I growled. It wasn't like when I growled before, when it was more of a warning, this growl was one that could truly belong to a demon._

_I lunged at Sensei, swinging at his face. I smirked in satisfaction as I felt my razor sharp claw connect with his face. My clawed hand had landed a hit across his nose, if he were to survive; he would forever have a scar._

_He jumped toward me, swinging his sword. I dodged, and punched him in the gut. He flew backward and slammed into a tree. I didn't give him any time to recover, I jumped toward him and once again, my fist connected with his gut._

_I was too focused on pounding him to realize that he raised his sword._

_My fist was still buried in his gut and I said, "You're going to die Sensei." To add to the terror, my voice was slightly deeper and warped by Kyuubi's chakra._

_I still hadn't realized that he raised his sword and it was now being swung at my right arm that was still connected to his gut._

_I realized too late that the sword was falling. As in, my arm was already gone when I realized. I fell backward, and landed on the ground. _

"_He He, you were harder to kill that I thought," Sensei slowly stood and positioned his sword over my neck, the rain was stinging my eyes, but I saw Sensei's looming figure above me, "but I got you in the end."_

_He slightly raised his sword and swung it downward. _

'_I'm going to die' I thought._

_Right before I woke up._

**AN: First story. If you flame, have a good reason.**


	2. Ch1 Return to the Leaf

_**Disclaimer-I don't own anything from Naruto or any other anime that I pull stuff from.**_

**Coming Home**

**Naruto**

I woke up panting. Quickly looking around, I realized that I was just having at nightmare. '_Damn, that was too realistic for my taste'_ I thought. Looking around at the hotel room that we rented, I noticed that Ero-Sennin was back. He was crashed on the couch, with his feet hanging off the end; he was too tall to fit.

I laugh mentally at that.

Glancing outside, I see that it's dawn. I sigh and decide it's not worth it to try and go back to sleep. I push the covers off me and stretch. Walking toward the kitchen, I decide to get some ramen before Ero-Sennin gets up. He'll just throw it away and tell me to eat something 'healthy.'

Psh, ramen is defiantly healthy. Stupid Ero-Sennin.

I eat quickly, incase Ero-Sennin wakes up, and then head to the bathroom to take a shower. I grab my clothes and a towel on the way. Turning the water on, I let the warm water relax my still-tense muscles from the nightmare. Unconsciously, I grab my right arm, and shiver slightly, even though the water is burning hot.

I step out of the shower and dry off, with the thought that in a few hours, I'll be back home. I get dressed and head out to wake Ero-Sennin up, he's probably still asleep.

I've gotten taller since I've been gone, I don't know how tall everyone in Konoha has gotten, but I bet I'm as tall or taller now. Finally hit a growth spurt!

My clothes have changed a lot too (mostly because Ero-Sennin burned my other clothes.) They are now long, dark orange shinobi pants (surprise!), a long sleeve-fishnet undershirt with, of course, my now dark, orange jacket. But instead of blue, there is black on the shoulders and sleeves. The black also comes farther down by back too. I wear the jacket unzipped. Instead of my blue shinobi sandals, I have switched to a black pair. Of course, my look is not complete without my hiate. Instead of being blue, I changed it to a black one with the fabric being longer than normal in the back. Of course, the bandages on my right arm too…

'_Snap out of it, it was just a stupid dream.'_ I tell myself.

Surprisingly, when I walk out of the bathroom, Ero-Sennin is up already and fully dressed. He gets right to the point.

"You had a nightmare last night." Straight to the point, it's just like him.

"Yea, so?" I challenge.

"So, you gonna tell me about it? It helps, you know." He does try, but this isn't something I want to discus right now.

"No, sorry I don't want to talk about it." I know its cold, but it's not something I want to discuss.

He sighs but I think he catches on and lets the topic drop. "You ready? We're only a few hours away y'know."

I smile real big and say, "Hell yea, let's go Ero-Sennin!" and run toward the door.

He scowls at me and says, "Gaki, I told you to stop calling me that!"

I laugh as he runs out after me.

* * *

**Hinata**

I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around me. Sighing, I dry off and dress. I had _that_ nightmare again. Well, it wasn't a nightmare, more like memory. The one where…

'_No'_ I shouldn't think about that. It's in the past. Instead I focus on getting dressed.

I have changed my clothes in the past two and a half years, Ino and Sakura practically forced me to. Not that I mind much anyway. I now wear dark blue, almost purple long shinobi pants. A fishnet undershirt with a black t-shirt over that. I still wear a jacket, but it's different now. It's a light purple, like lavender, but it has white sleeves. I wear it unzipped now, too. '_But you can't forget my left arm, all wrapped up in bandages'_ I think bitterly. My height is nothing special. I'm average for my age group; I stand at the same height as Ino and Sakura.

I'm halfway through eating before I remember what today is. Today is the day that Naruto comes home. I choke a little bit on my food and I hastily excuse myself, saying I'm late for training with Kurenai. I'll be late soon anyway.

I make my way to training ground 8 to find that Kurenai and Shino are already there. Kiba and Akamaru are nowhere to be seen. "A-ano, Kurenai-san, where are Kiba and Akamaru?" Kurenai is our sensei and team caption, but everyone has gotten used to me not using –sensei on anyone's name. Naruto too, neither of us uses it. Over the past two years I have almost eliminated my stutter too. Keyword: almost.

"He's not here yet, he's almost late though." She said with a slight frown.

"O-oh."

We fell into an awkward silence, until… "Hinata, may I suggest some light sparring until Kiba shows?" Shino. Him of all people breaking an awkward silence. I laughed mentally at that.

"S-sure," we slide into our respective tai-jutsu styles, and start. It's nothing that energy wasting, just some light sparring.

Around twenty or thirty minutes into our sparring session, Kiba and Akamaru show up. They stand by Kurenai and watch our spar. I don't really have to concentrate that much, I've been fighting people since I was little anyway…

This thought distracts me just for a second, and in that second, Shino throws a punch at me. Out of instinct, I throw up my left arm.

Shino's fist connected with my arm and you could hear an audible 'CRACK.' He recoiled and gripped his hand.

Having heard the crack, Kurenai and Kiba came to see what the problem was. Kurenai examined his hand, "Nothing's broken, just badly bruised." Kurenai was looking at me funny though, just like any other time this has happened.

Oh, yes. This has happened before, a few times actually. She tried once to figure out what was under my bandages, but I didn't let her find out. She's dropped hints that she knows I'm hiding something to, like once she told me similar things happened on Team 7 with Naruto. But that's pretty much it.

"Ok team, just take the rest of the day off, and report to the Hokage's tower tomorrow at 8:00, we've been requested for a mission. Come on Shino, we should get your hand looked at anyway." She walks away with Shino trailing behind, casting one last look at me, and shifting her gaze to my arm before she leaves.

"Aw, man, we just got here too, right Akamaru?"

"BARK, BARK!" Said the not-so-tiny dog.

Yep, everything has changed in the last two and a half years since Naruto has been gone. Akamaru was not a tiny little puppy anymore. He came all the way up to the middle of my chest; he's big enough to ride now. Kiba changed too. He still has the red triangular marks on his face, but his brown hair is wilder now. He wears black shinobi pants and he wears a fishnet undershirt with a black jacket over it.

We started walking back toward the village in silence. When we reached the outskirts that were near the edge of the training grounds, Kiba said nervously, "S-so Hinata, you wanna go somewhere. Y'know and hang out, or something…?"

"Ah, s-sure but I have to be somewhere in a f-few hours." I responded. I was no idiot, I knew he was asking me on a date but I didn't comment on that. I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone anyway, the only one I would trust with something like being in a relationship would be Naruto. I blushed slightly at that thought, don't ask me why 'cause I have no idea. But I quickly push that thought from my mind.

He looked surprised for a minute before he broke into a huge smile.

And that's where I was for the next few hours, hanging out with Kiba.

* * *

Currently, one Haruno Sakura was making her way to the Hokage's office. For the past two and a half years, she had been learning under the Hokage to be a medic-nin. She was very good, apparently. It took awhile, but after she got it, it became second nature to her. Of course, there were still lots that she could learn and she was always studying.

She had changed too, since Naruto had been gone. Her unusual pink hair stayed short, like it had since the chuunin exams. But instead of the dress type clothes she wore before, she now wore a zip up red tank top/jacket. She wore black shorts that stopped at her knees with a tan skirt that was slit at the sides. She wore her hiate in the same fashion, on top of her head and had knee high boots. She had black gloves and elbow braces.

She reached the Hokage's door and knocked, "Come in!" was the cheery response.

'_Hm, Hokage-sama must be in a good mood today' _thought Sakura, '_she sounds like she is.'_

Sakura was right. Tsunade _was_ in a good mood. She had received a message last night saying that Naruto and Jiraiya would be home midday today, which was any minute now. Now, Tsunade _could_ be very patient when she wanted to be. But this was a special case, her adoptive little brother was coming home, and even though she would never say it she missed her perverted team mate as well. Minus the pervertedness.

So when she heard the nock on her door she assumed that it was them. She had completely forgotten that she had summoned her apprentice Sakura just a moment ago. That was why, when she walked in the door, she was greeted with a big smile and an "Ohiyo, you guys are finally back?"

There was an awkward silence as Tsunade realized that she was not talking to Jiraiya and Naruto. So she did the only thing she could think of to retain some dignity. She cleared her throat and pretended that she said nothing. "Ohiyo Sakura-san, I have some important news for you."

Sakura inwardly sighed; her sensei could be very absent minded. "What kind of news, Hokage-sama?"

"Last night, we received news from Jiraiya," That got Sakura's full attention, "They should be back any minute. I'm giving…" But there was no one there to talk to anymore. Sakura had left when she heard, "They should be back…"

* * *

**At the gate…**

Two figures approached the gate, both male, and both wearing leaf hiate's. The shorter, sunny blond one yelled, "Finally, we're back!"

He had a giant grin plastered to his face as he attempted to run forward, through the gate that was just up ahead, but the taller, white haired one grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back, "Baka, we have to check in first!"

The blond turned his head and stuck his tongue out at the white haired man and said dejectedly, "I knew that, Ero-Sennin…" His face broke into a grin as he added the nickname to the end.

"Damn it gaki, stop calling me that!" The man yelled.

Now the whole time this was happening, the two shinobi guarding the gates, Kotetsu and Izumo, where wondering what nut jobs where coming in the gate this time, yelling like that. That was, until they came into view.

The first thought that came to their heads where, '_Holly shit, Yondaime?'_ They were in the graduating class of the academy when the Kyuubi attacked, but they remembered seeing the Yondaime a few times.

But their theory of the Yondaime coming back to life was proven wrong when the face turned around and they spotted the six black whisker marks on the young man's face. They relaxed slightly, "Kami, I thought…" said Kotetsu.

"I know…" Izumo replied.

The blond and the white haired shinobi walk over to them, snapping them out of their trance. "Ohiyo, this is Jiraiya and Naruto returning from extended training." The white haired shinobi, now recognized as Jiraiya, said. The blond, Naruto, was pouting behind him, complete with his arms crossed over his chest. Despite his age of sixteen and a half, he pulled it off completely.

Kotetsu and Izumo both smiled and signed them back into the village, "At least it won't be so boring around here anymore."

In response, Naruto only smiled evilly. Kotetsu and Izumo both shivered. They hoped they were not the victims of his next prank…

"Well, I'm off," says Naruto as he starts to run away.

"Just a minute, we have to go see the Hokage, I'm sure she misses me" Jiraiya says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world as he , once again, grabs the back of Naruto's shirt and starts to drag him toward the Hokage Tower.

"Whaaaa! Let me go! I can walk myself!"

* * *

Sakura was currently walking toward the gate. She figured that she would check to see if they had got here yet and if not she'd wait there for a few minutes. But as she was walking toward the gate, she spotted to _very_ familiar figures-one blond, the other white haired. They were walking side by side, arguing about something.

Sakura started running toward them, "Naruto! Is that you?"

The blond one turned to the side facing her, looking _down _at her even if it was just slightly. "Sakura?" He asked, "Is that you?"

"Ah, forget it, you go catch up with your friends gaki, I'm going to go see Tsunade." Jiraiya grumbled as he walked off.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at his retreating figure, "Psh, irritating perve."

"Ha ha, Naruto you sure have gotten taller, but you're still the same lovable idiot. Come on lets go get something to eat and catch up." '_It wouldn't hurt, I haven't seen him in a while'_ thought Sakura.

Naruto's face instantly brightened, "Really? You mean it? Let's go! RAMEN!"

They went to Ichiraku (The most awesome ramen shop in the history of awesome ramen shops) they talked about what went on in Konoha since Naruto had been gone. Things like who had become chuunin and jounin. Sakura pointed out that Tsunade's face was put up on the Hokage Monument. She also mentioned that she had gotten good enough to work in the Konoha Hospital.

After they finished eating, Naruto excused himself saying he had to go see Tsunade.

As she was walking away, Sakura couldn't help but think that she could maybe, just _maybe, _give him a chance at being more than friends…

**Jiraiya and Tsunade inside Hokage office**

****

**

* * *

**

"So, how is he? Mentally, I mean." asked Tsunade, gesturing for him to sit.

"Mentally? He's good. Or as good as you can be after going through what he has. He's not a homicidal maniac though, if that's what you mean." He said as he plopped himself down in a chair.

"What a nice way of putting it, I'm glad though. I don't think I could stand it if he went crazy, he's gonna be my successor, you know." Tsunade reached under her desk and reached into a secret compartment (formerly used to store Sandaime's Icha Icha collection) that now held Tsunade's sake. She pulled out a bottle and two cups, filled them both up and passed one to Jiraiya. "How's his arm?"

"Fleshy and human like."

"The other one dumbass."

"He he, same as always, why?"

"No reason." They lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, sipping their sake quietly. "How is his control on Kyuubi." She asked suddenly. It wasn't a question.

Jiraiya sighed, "That depends on the Kyuubi."

Tsunade pursed her lips, "What do you mean?"

"It's strange really; I don't fully understand it myself. But it depends on what the Kyuubi wants at that particular moment. It knows that if it tries to escape, Naruto will die before it can break out, resulting in its own death, but if it's board when Naruto tries to call on it, it will give him too much chakra, which overloads his senses , just for some entertainment. Then there are the times where it just doesn't care less and either gives him the chakra without complaining, or doesn't give it to him at all. I think it just likes messing with our heads."

Tsunade placed her elbows on her desk and rested her hands on her face, "How irritating."

* * *

**Naruto**

After I said goodbye to Sakura, I started to make my way to the Hokage Tower. I only got like, a third of the way there before_, 'Oh, screw it, I'm going home, it's night anyway!'_

And it was true, we had gotten back at about noon and I had spent the rest of the day catching up with Sakura. I jumped onto the rooftops and started running toward my apartment. I glanced around as I was jumping, Konoha had changed. All the damage from the Suna-Oto invasion looked like it was repaired, and Baa-chan's head was indeed on the Hokage's Monument.

Before I knew it, I was in front of my apartment building.

I walked in and up the stairs to the second floor. My apartment was the last one on the left, Number 9. I opened the door and examined my room. The first thing I notice is that it's clean; Baa-chan must have sent someone to clean up.

Then I look around, I haven't been here for two and a half years, but nothing's changed. It's not a big apartment, but it's not super small either. Just right for a bachelor. When you walk in, the living room is right in front of you, which is also the kitchen in the far left corner. The room extends into the wall slightly and only the essentials for cooking are there. A microwave, oven/stove, and refrigerator. In the living room part, there's only a black couch pressed against the far wall below a window. On the opposite side is a TV, but I never remember using it. On the right side is the door that leads to my bedroom, I quickly cross and enter.

I turned on the light and observe my room. It's a simple room really, there's a bed (quite a big one to) in the middle of the far wall, my dresser is next to it. I wince slightly when I see a medium-sized silver box on top of it. Damn that thing brings back some memories.

Moving on, the left wall is a balcony with a glass door. They have dark black curtains draped over them. The bathroom is to the right; it has a shower, sink, and toilet. Simple.

By this time, it's late out so I change into a grey t-shirt and black shorts and head to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Before I get there however, I hear something. A tapping, coming from the balcony window. I smile, '_I was wondering when she would show up.'_

_

* * *

_

**Hinata**

Me and Kiba hung out all day. Around 2:00, Shino came back and said his hand would be better in the morning, just a little sore. I think Kiba was upset about him appearing though. Oh well. We went back to the training grounds eventually and practiced our nin-jutsu for awhile. After awhile, I said that I had to go.

It was about 5:30. He had to be back by know, Naruto I mean. I wandered around the village looking for him for awhile, but that got boring and I decided to just go to his house.

I jumped up on the rooftops and headed in his apartments direction.

* * *

Naruto walked over to balcony and pushed the curtains apart. His smile widened when he saw her. '_She has definitely matured' _thought Naruto as he opened the balcony door, quickly shutting it when she was in. He pulled the curtains closed again; it wouldn't do to have her seen inside his house.

They turned toward each other, drinking in each others' appearance. "Hmm, you're not a shrimp anymore, eh Naruto?" The girl said, "You grew out your hair, what are you doing, going for the girly look?" she smirked.

Naruto growled, "Hey, not fair I can't pick on you for having short hair anymore, Hinata!"

It was true though, Naruto did grow his hair out, the sides were chin length, and he had a short ponytail in the back, it was definetly not even a third of the length of Jirayia's though. If it was possible, his hair was spikier too.

The now identified Hinata laughed at the pouting expression on his face, "Ha, our positions are flipped, you used to make fun of me for having too-short hair, and now I'm making fun of you for having too-long hair." Indeed, Hinata's midnight blue-black hair now reached mid-back.

They were quiet for a minute before a soft smile graced Naruto's face, "Hey, I haven't seen my old team mate in two n' a half years, no hug?"

Smiling, Hinata quickly closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. With a slight blush, she realized that she could feel his toned muscles through his old grey nightshirt.

Naruto's thoughts were along the same lines as he wrapped his arms around her, even though Hinata was still in her regular clothes.

They released each other and sat down on the end of the bed, Naruto grabbed her left hand with his right one, entwining their bandaged fingers, "I missed you Sunshine."

"Yea, I missed you too Fox boy."

They talked deep into the night, until Hinata had to leave. She had a mission in the morning, and had to have at least a few hours of sleep.

And that concludes Naruto's first day back in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

* * *

**AN: Here's the official first chapter of Secrets of Former Jounin. I want to thank Uzumaki Ricky for being my first reviewer, it means alot!**


	3. The Bell Test and Suna

_**Disclaimer-I don't own anything from Naruto or any other anime I pull stuff from.**_

_**Boybyfresh: You had a good question. No, they were not on the same team in part one. You'll have to keep reading to find out what the prolog's about.**_

**The Bell Test and Heading to Suna**

**Naruto**

Right now, I was on my way to the Hokage's office, my left hand resting on my right shoulder. Looking around, I noticed something; when I left, people were stressing over losing their last Uchiha, thus, paying me no attention. But now, mixed in with the glares, some people looked at me with a different look, almost as if they were curious.

'_Oh well, I don't care anyway,'_ were my thoughts. I mean, who was I to question change?

I turned down an empty street. Or at least I had thought it was empty, Hinata was walking further ahead. _'Wait, she's not alone?' _I noticed two figures walking beside her, along with a large white animal. It took me a minute to figure out who they were.

I recognized only two of the three walking with Hinata; Kiba and Akamaru. The third figure was covered up in a light green trench coat, he turned slightly and I saw that he was also wearing black tinted glasses and a face mask. I had no idea who it could be.

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" I yelled as he ran up to them. They stopped, and turned toward me.

"Naruto? Is that you? When the hell did you get back?" Kiba yelled, beside him, Akamaru barked in agreement. On the other side of them, the mystery guy pushed his glasses up.

"Ohiyo guys, I got back yesterday afternoon. But I ran into Sakura and we got caught up talking." I said with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of my neck nervously, "I'm going to see Baa-chan right now, I was suppose to go see her yesterday but oh well, Ero-Sennin already went to see her."

"Naruto-san, you should have more respect for your superiors'." The mystery guy said as he once again, pushed his glasses up.

'_Who the hell is that, anyway?' _I thought. "Eh, their just a super pervert and an old lady."

'**Well, you gotta admit, their strong for a couple of fleshbags, **_**old **_**ones too'**

'_Go away; I don't need your input right now. Yea, I admit their strong, so what. That doesn't mean I can't mess with them'_ Damn fox, never there when you need him, but there whenever you could care less.

'**Psh, fine be that way'**

Back in reality, Hinata had laughed a little at my former comment on Jiraiya and Tsunade. "Naruto is right Shino, Jiraiya deserves his nickname. But Tsunade isn't that old, is she?"

'_Shino! That's who it is'_ "Psh, don't tell her I said this, but she's just as old as Ero-Sennin. She just uses a special gen-jutsu to cover up her oldness." As I said this, my hand went up and cupped halfway around the side of my mouth, and I leaned forward some. Like it was a big secret. By this time, we have started walking toward the Hokage Tower again.

"Dude, she's that old? Oh Kami." Kiba said, his face went pale toward the end though, I wonder what he did.

"Kiba-san here has been hitting on her since you've been gone." Shino said in his monotone voice, "He assumed that Hokage-sama was younger, even though that would not make any sense. She was Jiraiya-sama's team mate after all."

I tried to keep my face serious, I really did. But in the end, I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it, that's just too funny, "Gross, that's just gross Kiba."

We made it to the Hokage's Tower, I had to say good bye to them though, they had a mission to get to and I had to go see Baa-chan. I walked up the spiraling staircase that led to the Hokage's office, passing all sorts of rooms. Towards the top, I recognize the storage scroll room that I stole from, all those years ago… Kami, that makes me fell old, I'm only sixteen. I shouldn't feel old.

Pushing that thought aside, I knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. There was no response, so I knocked again. Once again, there was no response. Now, I've never been a patient person, so this pissed me off royally. I adopted an angry face and barged right into the office.

* * *

Tsunade was currently sleeping. On her desk.

Some might say that it was unfit for a Kage to fall asleep, especially during the day, but Tsunade couldn't help it. She had been up the whole night before, after Jiraiya left. Doing what you might ask? Paperwork.

The most evil, evil, of all evils. Tsunade couldn't wait until Naruto took over, so she could sit and watch him suffer.

But, anyway, back to her office. She was sleeping, having the most _wonderful_ dream. It involved fire jutsu and stacks of unfinished paperwork, when she heard a knock on her door. Thinking it was Shizune bringing her more paperwork, she just ignored it. After a short pause, there was another knock. Once again, she ignored it. After another short pause, she snickered to herself silently, '_No paperwork fo-'_

But her train of thought was interrupted when her door was suddenly forced open, and a blond headed ninja walked in and right up to her desk, and proceeded to yell. Loudly.

The person was only yelling for a few seconds though. Tsunade did what most people expect, upon waking the blonde Hokage from 'resting her eyes'. She punched the trespasser. Hard, and smack in the middle of his face. He went flying across the room, out the door, and landed _in _the wall.

When the dust cleared, she gasped and ran over to help the other blond from the human-sized indentation in the wall.

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?"

"Being blown into the wall apparently, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!"

"YOU POPPED OUT OF NO WHERE, I DIDN'T KNOW WHO YOU WERE!"

"OH MY GOD, YOU DIDN'T RECOGNISE ME? THAT HURTS, BAA-CHAN!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Neither of us had noticed that Sakura and Shizune, along with a few ANBU had showed up. "WELL, ARE YOU GOING TO AWNSER ME?" Everyone cringed at the volume, the thought going through everyone's head was, '_Damn, Sakura sure can yell'_

"Ah, Ohiyo Sakura-chan. We were just…" Naruto started.

"Greeting each other! I mean, I haven't seen this idiot in almost three years! How could I have recognized him!" Tsunade finished, wrapping her arms around Naruto's shoulders.

'_Nice save'_ Naruto thought, a smile creeping onto his face. "Yea, that's right! Wait, DID YOU JUST CALL ME AN IDIOT!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT I DID!"

"SHUT UP, YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS! NOW, INTO THE OFFICE!" Once again, everyone cringed from the volume of Sakura's voice; it was as loud as Tsunade's!

The ANBU, seeing that they weren't needed, melted back into the shadows as Sakura, Naruto, Tsunade, and Shizune entered the Hokage's office.

Tsunade took her seat behind her desk, and Shizune took her place beside her. Naruto and Sakura stood in front of them. "Now, Jiraiya told me that you've become quite strong over this trip."

"Yep, I'm awesomely strong now!" Naruto replied, giving a thumbs up.

"Oh, why don't we test that," Tsunade smirked at their confused faces, "I want you two to fight someone."

"Fight someone? Who is it Baa-chan? Ohhh, I hope it's someone strong!" Naruto's face had broken into a goofy grin by this point,

Sakura sighed, "Who is it, Tsunade-sensei?"

Tsunade turned her head slightly to face the open windows behind her, "You can come in now, Kakashi."

"Ma, ma, you sure have grown, eh, Naruto." Kakashi said as he jumped and landed on the window sill. Kakashi looked the same as always, face mask and all.

"Ohiyo, Kakashi-san!" Naruto yelled, "I have a gift for you!" He reached into his kunai pouch that was situated on his butt. "Ero-Sennin gave it to me, but I never read it." He said with a look on his face that indicated that Jiraiya had tried to force him to read it. He tossed the little green book at his former Sensei.

"Oh. My. God. That's, that's the newest book in the Icha Icha collection! It's not even in stores yet! AND it's signed!" He grabbed the book and started walking back towards the window, "Meet me at training ground 7, I'll be there soon." Tsunade cracked her knuckles, and Kakashi started sweating, "I promise I'll go right there; you need to test their skills, right?

"Yes, go _straight_ there Kakashi." Tsunade said.

* * *

**Training ground 7**

**Naruto**

Kakashi was true to his word, he was there waiting for us when we got there. It felt completely backwards.

"So, we gonna fight, or what, Kakashi-san?" I said, while cracking my knuckles.

"Well, actually, I was thinking I could give you a test." He said as he reached behind his back, into his kunai pouch. I personally thought he was going to pull out his new porn book, so I was surprised when he pulled out two small, shiny silver bells.

Sakura was apparently thinking the same thing because she said, "No porn?" and raised her eyebrow.

Kakashi did one of his eye smiles and replied, "Oh, I thought I should take my former students a bit more seriously this time."

Then, it clicked. Bells. Test. Bell test! "The bell test, Kakashi-san?" I guessed, copying Sakura and raising my eyebrow.

"Yep. You guys already know the rules," He lifted his free hand and pulled up his hiate, reveling his fully developed, sharingan eye, "like I said, I think I should take you guys a bit more seriously this time." He tied the bells on his waist.

We each took are respective tai-jutsu stances, and locked eyes with each other. I didn't waste much time though; I was the first one to move, jumping up and throwing a few kunai at him.

He easily dogged, and threw some fuuma shuriken back at me. _'Crap'_ I thought. I quickly made a cross and yelled, "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" A clone popped into existence beside me, and pulled me out of the way of the oncoming, oversized shuriken.

I landed off to the side, and had the clone henge into a fuuma shuriken, about to chuck it in Kakashi's direction. I sensed something wrong though, too late. Kakashi had appeared behind me and grabbed the back of my head and my bandaged arm, which was holding the henged clone. "Good strategy, you couldn't move in the air, so you had your Kagebunshin move you."

"Hm, you didn't notice me?" I said from behind him, I had a kunai positioned next to his neck. "Your senses getting dull or something?" A smile forming on my face as I taunted him.

He smiled and said, "You still have horrible patience, don't you? I never said start."

Both of me smirked at him, and the one in the back said, "Did you expect me to mature, or something?" I started reaching toward the bells tied to his waist. I know that the exercise is a teamwork one, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" Kakashi said.

"No, but it doesn't hurt to try, does it?" I jumped back as he poofed out of existence. _'Kagebunshin' _I thought. The two clones that Kakashi had grabbed poofed away too.

I glanced over at Sakura, she was looking around, and then she suddenly drew her hand back and punched the ground. "HOLY SHIT!" I yelled, "BAA-CHAN TAUGHT YOU HOW TO DO _THAT!"_ I think Kakashi's thoughts were along the same line, going by the expression on his face. He had been uncovered when Sakura punched the ground. Along with a good portion of the ground.

"Well, maybe I should do something now." Kakashi said, as he was standing up.

'_Uh-oh', _I thought, '_what's he gonna do?'_

**Time skip-hours later**

Me and Sakura were currently hiding behind one of the giant trees around the training ground. We have been trying to get the bells from him for practically the whole day( we have until morning to get the bells ), it's even dark outside now! We both have a bunch of little scrapes and bruises, but nothing serious. I'm pretty sure Kakashi's in the same condition. I closed my eyes and threw out my senses, Kakashi was far enough away that he wouldn't hear us if we talked. "Ne, Sakura, how are we going to beat him?" I whispered. There was still a chance he would hear us.

"I don't know, I've been trying to look for a weakness in his fighting style, but he just copies and uses ours." She whispered back, I noticed that she sounded annoyed. I was too. I would _definitely _beat him, if it was an actual fight, and we were actually aiming to kill. Here, we were just aiming to maim, if possible.

"Damn, this is annoying, weak point, weak point, weak po-," I stop suddenly, and my hand comes up to my mouth to stop the laughter that threatens to escape my lips. Oh Kami, why didn't I think of this earlier?

"What is it, did you figure something out?"

"Yep," I said, my foxy grin spreading over my face, "I found his weakness."

* * *

Kakashi was currently resting in the roots of a tree. '_Those two have certainly grown, if this goes on much longer, I'll run out of chakra. Sharingan uses a lot of it up, after all.'_

Kakashi heard a noise directly above him. Looking up, he sighed. "A frontal attack? That won't work against me, you know."

Naruto's foxy grin grew larger, and Sakura just smirked and pulled up the glove on her hand. "Go ahead, Naruto."

"Yeah. Oi, Kakashi-san!" Naruto yelled as he started running toward him, Sakura was trailing behind him slightly, "IN ICHA ICHA TACTICS, THE ENDING IS THAT THE MAIN CHARACTER…"

Kakashi didn't hear anymore, using all his ninja skills, his hands shot up and covered his ears as fast as he could. But that wasn't enough, '_Shit, I can read his lips, because of the Sharingan' _So, he closed his eyes.

**The next day**

**Naruto**

We were walking toward the Hokage Tower, Kakashi, Sakura, and me, I mean. Kakashi was still sulking about us tricking him yesterday during the bell test. Psh, I've never read Ero-Sennin's books, Kakashi was upset about finding out he lost over something like that too. Who cares, it was funny.

"Naruto, promise us that you'll accept any mission Hokage-sama wants to give us."

"Yeah, sure Kakashi-san." Was my response. I tried to sound convincing, I wasn't gonna go do some boring mission, now was I?

We entered the mission room; the first thing I noticed was that a shinobi from the code breaker section was there. He looked like he had run here in a hurry to, wonder why. I glanced over at Baa-chan, only to see her sitting in shock, and staring at a piece of paper.

Looking up, she noticed that we were there, "Kakashi! Urgent news from Suna, the Kazekage had been kidnapped by Akatsuki! You're to go with Naruto and Sakura to Suna immediately and help rescue him! I will send backup as soon as I can, just go!"

Kakashi looked straight into Baa-chan's eye and said, "Yes ma'am, we will not fail." Then he turned towards us, "We have our mission, let's go!" Didn't need to tell me twice; we all jumped out the window, and headed toward the main gate.

I snarled in rage, and my chakra spiked a bit. How _dare_ Akatsuki do that. How _dare_ they kidnap Gaara, those Akatsuki fools would not survive after I got my hands on them.

**AN: For those of you wondering what's up with the arm thing, all will be revealed in the next chapter. **


End file.
